The information that we have is that the 34 year old manager of the restaurant wrestled with the gunman at about 2am when the gunman was falling asleep. Unfortunately the manager was killed. The police moved in when the gunshots started. One young female lawyer was killed protecting a pregnant colleague and a number of others were wounded. The gunman is dead. A number of the hostages managed to escape during the day but for obvious reasons have been asked by the police to not discuss the details of what happened. There have been many floral tributes in Martin Place since the incident and a ''I'll ride with you,'' invitation extended toward our Islamic neighbours and friends who may fear any reprisals from the act of one obviously disturbed man.
The peace and relief has not lasted long as we have now heard about the terrible massacre of the young school kids in Pakistan. Is it too idealistic to hope that people will tire of all of this and start working toward the common good?